The development of thin film fuse technology has allowed for the creation of field programmable memory circuits. The fuse provides for field programming of data in the memory array portion of the chip. In one application, the fuse is not a protective device, but instead is specifically blown or disabled. The memory cells in the memory array which are not needed are disabled by blowing the fuse. Once the fuse is blown, those associated memory cells are permanently removed from the circuit.
In another application, the fuse acts as a protective device. The material comprising the fuse is formed between two conductive layers. When the fuse is ruptured, the conductive layers are allowed to migrate across the fuse material and make electrical contact. This use of a fuse has specific applications in the field programming of Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
In the prior art, an undoped polysilicon layer was formed between two metal layers. During programming, if there was a need for an electrical contact between these two metal layers, the polysilicon was ruptured. The potential of the undoped polysilicon was raised high enough to allow the metal to migrate through or alloy with the polysilicon. The resistance of the polysilicon was lowered enough to form an electrical contact between the two metals.
One disadvantage of using polysilicon between two conductive layers is that there will be leakage current across the polysilicon when a voltage is applied to the conductive layers. It would therefore be desirable to form an improved electrically fusible device which does not conduct current across the fusible layer when voltage is applied to the conductive layers. It would be desirable to use a dielectric layer between the two conductive layers. It would further be desirable to for such method to be compatible with current process techniques.